Staff Ground Software Engineer – Mission Planning & Astrodynamics
Northrop Grumman1 day ago
McLean, VA, USAStaff+
Base Salary
$177k - $266k/yr
Responsibilities
- Design, develop, and maintain ground software services and tools for mission planning, orbit analysis, and satellite operations.
- Perform requirements analysis, architecture and design, implementation, unit testing, integration, deployment, and sustainment across the software lifecycle.
- Integrate mission planning capabilities with systems engineering, mission operations, astrodynamics, flight dynamics, and other ground software teams.
- Develop automation, pipelines, and tools for mission analysis and operations.
- Design and implement capabilities for orbit determination, ephemeris propagation, maneuver planning, station keeping, conjunction assessment, collision avoidance, contact planning, satellite mission analysis, LEOP, on-orbit support, anomaly response, and RPO analysis.
- Integrate and operationalize FreeFlyer and STK with other ground systems and data sources.
- Contribute to technical documentation, design artifacts, customer briefings, and the technical roadmap for mission planning tools and services.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in a STEM discipline with 12+ years of relevant software or mission experience, or a master’s degree with 10+ years, or a PhD with 8+ years.
- Strong complex-system software development background with Python as the preferred primary language and experience with an additional language such as C, C++, or Java.
- Experience with all phases of the software development lifecycle and Agile software development practices.
- Experience with Linux development environments, Bash scripting, containerization, CI/CD tools, and configuration management.
- Experience supporting astrodynamics, orbital mechanics, flight dynamics, mission planning, or satellite operations.
- Hands-on experience with orbit determination, maneuver planning, station keeping, conjunction assessment, collision avoidance, ephemeris propagation, trajectory analysis, contact planning, or satellite mission analysis.
- Ability to work full-time onsite in McLean, Virginia, in a secure environment.
- Ability to obtain and maintain a Top Secret clearance and any required special program access; active DoD Top Secret clearance is preferred.
- Preferred qualifications include active TS/SCI clearance with current or recent program access; aerospace engineering or physics education; FreeFlyer or STK experience; LEOP, station keeping, collision avoidance, RPO, long-term mission planning, or anomaly-resolution experience; MBSE, Atlassian, virtualization, DevOps, automation, or Northrop Grumman space-program experience.
Benefits
- Relocation assistance may be available.
- Medical, life, and disability insurance are provided.
- Savings plan, company-paid holidays, and paid time off are provided.
- Eligible employees may receive overtime, shift differential, and discretionary bonuses in addition to base salary.
- The role is full-time onsite in McLean, VA and requires approximately 10% travel.
- U.S. citizenship is required for positions involving government clearance and certain restricted work.
About Northrop Grumman
Northrop Grumman designs and manufactures aircraft, spacecraft, missile defense, C4ISR, and cyber systems for the U.S. government, NASA, and allied nations. The company operates primarily through long-term defense and space contracts, delivering products and services spanning autonomous systems, sensors, software, and sustainment. Founded in 1994 and headquartered in Falls Church, Virginia, it is a public company listed on the NYSE (ticker: NOC).